Excel Tutorial
Entering Data and Editing Cell Contents
Data Entry in a Cell
To enter data in a Cell, place the cursor in the cell and click left mouse Button. Now you type the data / text you want to enter in the cell. By default, the format of Cells is set to General. You may require to change the format of the cells depending upon the type of data, you wish to enter into cells viz. Text, Date, Percentage etc. To know more about changing format of Cells, please Click Here.
Shortcut Keys for Entering Data in Cells
| Enter | Complete a cell entry and select the cell below |
| Alt+Enter | Start a new line in the same cell |
| Ctrl+Enter | Fill the selected cell range with the current entry |
| Shift+Enter | Complete a cell entry and select the previous cell above |
| Tab | Complete a cell entry and select the next cell to the right |
| Shift+Tab | Complete a cell entry and select the previous cell to the left |
| ESC | Cancel a cell entry |
| Arrow keys | Move one character up, down, left, or right |
| Home | Move to the beginning of the line |
| F4 or Ctrl+Y | Repeat the last action |
| Ctrl+D | Fill down |
| Ctrl+R | Fill to the right |
| Ctrl+K | Insert a hyperlink |
| Ctrl+Shift+: (colon) | Enter the time. |
| Alt+Down Arrow | Display a drop-down list of the values in the current column of a range |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo the last action. |
Editing Cell Contents
To edit the data in a cell, select the Cell you wish to edit and press F2 key. Alternatively, You can also edit the contents of a Cell by using the Formula bar or by double clicking in the Cell.
Wrapping Text
If the data entered in a Cell is too long to fit in the cell, you can wrap the text in the cell by
- Click on Format in Menubar
- Click on Alignment
- Tick the Box against Wrap text
You can also change the horizontal and / or vertical alignment and / or orientation of data entered in the cell by the above procedure. You may also shrink the data (reduce the font size) to fit in the cell.
Entering Numbers as Text
In Microsoft Excel, by default numbers are treated as numeric values on which numeric calculations are performed. By default Numeric entries are aligned right and Text is aligned to the left. If you want to enter Numbers as Text such as Serial Number, Tax Id etc. on which no calculations are to be performed,enter it as a label by typing a single quotation mark ( ' ) first.
Smart Tags
If you make an entry, which Microsoft Excel believes you may want to change, a smart tag appears. Smart tags give the opportunity to make changes easily. Cells with smart tag in them have a green triangle in the upper left corner. When you place your cursor in the cell having a Smart Tag, the Trace Error icon appears. A Click the Trace Error icon will display options to change the data entered in the cell.
Shortcut Keys to Edit Data
| F2 | Edit the active cell and position the insertion point at the end of the cell contents |
| Alt+Enter | Start a new line in the same cell |
| Backspace | Edit the active cell and then clear it, or Delete the preceding character in the active cell as you edit cell contents |
| Delete | Delete the character to the right of the insertion point, or Delete the selection |
| Ctrl+Delete | Delete text to the end of the line |
| F7 | Display the Spelling dialog box |
| Enter | Complete a cell entry and select the next cell below |
| ESC | Cancel a cell entry |
| Ctrl+Shift+Z | When the AutoCorrect Smart Tags is displayed, undo or redo the last automatic correction |